I'll be running a one-on-one OSE game, and the player has picked an assassin. Starting off at level 1, our assassin will have an NPC guide for the 1st assassination attempt. And for that, I need a target. Having the Remarkable Cults book, I figure to make a cult and a high-ranking minion for Dynin to take out. As this will be face to face, it means I can use my toys :) Among them I'll probably use one of 0-Hr's headquarters. While these are science fiction, if you ignore the elevators and SF things, they work fine as mansions, lairs and whatnot.
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| 0-Hr's HQ2. It has a great hall. And ignore the shuttle for a fantasy game |
As I keep getting books and games and rarely use them, I'll see about designing a cult that has leaders and a structure. This will allow for future play possibly, depending on how things work out. We're playing in my Edge City, which is a slightly reskinned Ankh-Morpork as I have that book and giant map. A nice big fantasy city to play in!
There are, of course, a lot of tables to roll on or use as inspiration. I wish that this system did what spectacular settlements did and provide worksheets. Though come to think of it, there is no reason I could not make my own up. My first roll has this organized as a trade organization. Great - they can have caravans on the Ocean Trade route and visit Windemere! Bits and pieces will come together. A trading company "uses its influences and resources to commit vile acts on a grand scale". Though the assassin is neutral, it is easier to kill bad people. Though for a price...
Our trade-based cult is of medium wealth and size, having 5 buildings and one stronghold. I'll have a couple of the buildings in Edge City, the others and stronghold wherever I need them later on. Those five buildings are a library, workshop, stable, granary and a hospital. The hospital and library are in Edge city - there is enough people living there to make some sort of sense. The hospital and stable both increase the defense score (as yet to be seen what that actually means, though not important at the scale we'll be playing at) by 2. Our stronghold is a tower that provides magical defenses.
Our resource score is 2, and this gives us 1d4-2 or 2 special resources. We have access to natural ingredients as well as magical items. As a trading organization that actually makes sense. Trade is the front, and the front to what you may ask? The leader, a human named Ezrith Benderton, founded this cult when communicated with a strange entity, whose desire is to perfect the human race.
Perfection is, of course, a relative and cultural idea. And coming from a strange entity (and I'll have to poke around a lot of my various books, zines and things to find or create something interesting and possibly dark and twisted) what is perfection? Could be something similar to the old SF trope to serve man - it's a cookbook! I rather like that idea.
Does this cult need some sort of power source? Rolling on the table, they harness the psychic energy from the minds of its members. More members, more power. And I figure there is a range for actual power, but it may depend on how many people.
Its focus is on esoteric or arcane research that grants its members bizarre and previously unknown forms of magic. I can see some dark goings on in the hidden wing of that hospital! But fortunately, there is a hidden weakness: the cult requires an exotic resource to utilize that power. Without it, drawing on the power will kill whoever tries to draw that power. What exotic resource...let's say mermaid blood. As I do happen to have a mermaid mini so it would be nice to use it perhaps. And it may explain why this cult as a few fishing boats that often come back empty or bearing strange, rolled up canvas packages secreted hidden locations.
There is a strange symbol for the cult that is only put on a small set of items intended for higher ranking cult member: a mermaid in chains. And there is a name only whispered when new members are brought into the inner circle of the cult: Seekers of Perfection.
- Wealth 3/5
- Resources 2/5
- Defense 2/5
- Influence 2/5
In summary, the Seekers of Perfection are a medium size cult with a couple buildings in Edge City, and 3 more scattered. They use their trading empire to seek out people they can either have join the cult or use to be experimented on in the Hospital of Our Fair Lady, in the secret wing which is two levels below the busy streets of Edge City. Ezrith Benderton leads this cult, a lean yet muscled man, his hair in constant disarray. Should one see his left shoulder, there would be what looks like a brand of an arcane symbol burned there. Ezrith always dresses in green clothing: from his boots to his hat, various shades of green make up his entire wardrobe. Despite running a growing trade empire, his manners are barbaric, and he does not conform to the normal behaviors of Edge City. A natural fast talker, he makes deals after pressuring others. Part of that is due to his being a charlatan before meeting the strange entity (and I'll have to come up with a post for that!). He does have a secret though: his memories of his life before talking with this entity are fragmented. He cannot recall family, friends, or even what he was doing before this eldritch communication. He is also bound to Edge City, and has not left the city walls since that dark day.
While the trading empire is growing, not all the traders and workers employed by the Trade Seekers are cult members. Perhaps a quarter or so. In a caravan of 10 people, only 2 or 3 will be cult members. Only after you've been with the company long enough for those in charge to get a feel for you will you be felt out to see if you would fit in the cult. Those members who join get an immediate +1 to a physical stat from those arcane magics.
While Ezrith leads the cult and the trade group from Edge City, he has a few other high-ranking members living in the city, or at larger trading posts and ports.
Which finally brings us to our assassination target: Penn Cravann, former caravan master who is now in charge of the Western Ocean Route. Part of his duties involve mermaid hunting, and he may well have a mermaid in his home in the basement.
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| Penn Cravann |
Now all I need to do is generate some NPCs and stock my maps. And it is later than I thought!
While not a review of the book, it does introduce several pre-made cults (which I do need to re-read and see about sticking into some of my games), as well as a section to create your own cult. And a section I've yet to read about players running cults. Which would be a higher-level process at some point perhaps. The book itself is beautiful and well-made. Like all the Remarkable books, it presents some good game ideas and is useful as a springboard into making your own things. Is it worth it? There are other resources out there that can do similar things for less or even free. But I do enjoy actual books and the ability to read them at my leisure, and then re-read to pick up what I've missed. For me, yes, these books are always worth it. But - you can create any of these make-believe things without any aids. So not necessary but definitely nice as for the same reason I love Traveller character generation: you never know what you may end up with!
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